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The winter months are an important part of the year for raptors as survival throughout this period is critical for the succeeding year's population recruitment. We reveal novel insights into the wintering of kites (Milvus spp.) on the Mediterranean island of Crete, Greece. We use a combination of 1) direct field observations, 2) online photograph searches and 3) analysis of satellite telemetry data from a tagged hybrid Red Kite × Black Kite (Milvus milvus × M. migrans migrans). The number of observations of wintering kites has increased since 1998. The wintering of numerous Black Kites with morphological features of both subspecies (M. migrans migrans and M. migrans lineatus) and a hybrid Red Kite × Black Kite is a new phenomenon on Crete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culicinomyces clavisporus , a fungal pathogen of a wide range of mosquito species, was investigated in relation to potential pathogenicity against Culicoides nubeculosus biting midge larvae. Seven different C. clavisporus strains were assayed. Each showed some degree of activity against C. nubeculosus larvae with LC 50 values of between 3.2×10 -5 and 1.1×10 -6 spores/mL; these effects occurred in dose-dependent manners and tended to be delayed until 72-96 h post treatment. The results are discussed in relation to incorporation of C. clavisporus into biocontrol programmes for Culicoides spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mosquito fungal pathogen Culicinomyces clavisporus was found to be sensitive to the antibiotics hygromycin B and phleomycin but resistant to kanamycin and geneticin. Protoplasts were genetically transformed to give strains resistant to phleomycin and hygromycin B. The results show that multiple integrations of transforming DNA can occur and that heterologous fungal gene expression signals are functional in C. clavisporus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]